Tag Archives: teachers

Future generations may well look back on the past hundred years in which drugs were a major center of conflict on planet Earth. Humans see no harm in using drugs sold in pharmacies which make them feel better, but if a human uses a drug not sold in a pharmacy that makes them feel better, it becomes a crime. The Philippine government is conducting random drug tests of children in school. The most interesting aspect of this drug program is asking teachers and administrators to select which students are to be tested. Imagine a teacher pointing out student “X” as the one to be tested and discovering that individual tested for drugs? Imagine if other students discovered their teacher was pointing out potential criminals to the police?

One is also left wondering what would happen if several thousand students tested positive for drugs. Would schools then organize programs dealing with drug abuse? Would the students be placed in the criminal court system and subject to drug rehabilitation programs? It is all well and good to test people, but does anyone have a program in mind to assist the students who test positive?

The disclosure of over 12,000 names of people who are members of the right wing, British National Party(BNP) raised questions as to wether teachers belonging to the organization should be allowed to teach. The list included names of 15 teachers, four nurses and members of the armed forces. Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASWUT teacher’s union, bluntly stated: “those who declare their affiliation to the BNP should not be allowed to work in the teaching profession or in public services.” The Department for Children, Schools and Families said thee was no ban on BNP supporters working in schools, but they could be disciplined or fired if their expressed racist views in the classroom.

During the 1950s, anti-Communist hysteria resulted in many teachers who had been members of the Communist Party in America to be fired. Once members of any legal political party are fired for membership, one is on the slippery slope of giving government the right to decide who can or can not teach because of personal political views. The only criteria if whether or not an individual expresses racist views in class or makes derogatory statements about children. They have a right to be a nudist, Communist, atheist or Nazi in their personal lives. People should be judged on actions, not beliefs.

Last year, Russian teacher education manuals described the former dictator, Joseph Stalin, as an “effective manager.” Now, a new teacher manual argues the brutal dictator who, most probably, was responsible for the death of over 30 million people, acted rationally in carrying out these deaths because Russia had to be modernized. Teachers are being told the Great Terror of the 1930s when thousands were executed and millions terrorized, that “Stalin did not know who would deal the next blow, and for that reason, he attacked every known group and movement, as well as those who were not his allies or of his mindset.”

Defenders of the manual argue they are not defending the dictator, but simply explaining his motivation. Millions of Russians were killed or sent to camps in Siberia where they were worked to death. One wonders if students will be told how many thousands of brave Russian soldiers who fought in WWII were killed after the war.

Turkey is engaged in a struggle between religious and secular forces not only for the soul of its society, but over who will control its institutions of power. Yusuf Kanli, writing in the Turkish Daily News, confronts the issue as to which side will win. He quotes Professor Serif Mardin who recently posed the question as to whether the imam or the teacher will capture the minds of the Turkish people. Professor Mardin suggests there is a vast counter movement on the part of Turkish religious leaders who seek to extend their control over every aspect of society. Many Turkish religious figures look towards Iran as the model for what should occur in their own society since that nation’s control by religious leaders is total in its scope.

Yusuf Kanli argues, “thus the struggle between the imam and the teacher or between relligious conservatism and secular democratic republic is not yet won by either for the time being, though it is clear that the republic is trying to resist a grand siege.” We in nations like America are bewildered over attempts to prevent females from wearing a headscarf at the university because our secular society is strong enough to allow such behavior without threatening our secular foundations as a society, but Turkey is closer to a situation in which forces of religion are seeking complete control and the headscarf is merely a symbol of that effort.

Many Turks are discussing a recent TV talk show in which two girls attacked their nation’s founder, Attaturk, who they claimed had set back the right for religion in their country and proclaimed they preferred Iran’s religious leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. They said the goal of religion in Turkey is to take control over every facet of society including the imposition of sharia law. These comments shocked secular forces in Turkey.

The reality of modern Turkey is there are more mosques than schools an more imams than teachers. Can Turkey retain its secular foundation in the face of such figures?